Tokyo Godfathers

Director
Satoshi Kon
Production
Madhouse, Sony
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Film
Year
2003

Tokyo Godfathers

By Mark McPherson
29th May 04

Satoshi Kon is no stranger to anime cinema with his groundbreaking work done on Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress. Just when you think Kon's writing and directing skills couldn't get any better, he somehow finds a way to dazzle the anime audience once again. Tokyo Godfathers is no exception, as it is another Satoshi Kon masterpiece with animation by Mad House (Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D).

The story begins quickly with three quirky homeless people mooching off a church banquet. There is the Gin, the middle-aged man ashamed of his past, Hana, a homosexual who dreams of becoming a mother, and Miyuki, a teenage runaway. These three hobos never quite seem to get along as they are constantly fighting and yelling at each other until one Christmas when they find an abandoned baby. The baby is dubbed by the trio as Kiyoko meaning pure. It soon becomes their mission to return the baby to her rightful parents, but too many obstacles get in the way. Through their journey, each one of the characters seems to relate to the baby in their own special way and eventually has to face their past regrets.

While the concept of Tokyo Godfathers is a very uncommon one, it proves to be very entertaining. The story has a very interesting fusion of tragic drama and unexpected humor. This story also takes many twists and turns through every bit of its story elements including each character's story. While the story does appear pretty predictable at first, it quickly whips away to interesting twists here and there. Most of the scenes flash on and off very quickly between tear-jerking stories of tragedy one minute and off-the-wall humors the next. The funny thing is that the script for Tokyo Godfathers could have easily been turned into a live-action film, but it wouldn't have been as fun as the character designs show a wide range of emotion and add to the humor of the movie. Hana's character is a bit out there, but some people should be able to identify with Gin and Miyuki. One of the funniest lines in the film is how Gin goes on about how he is just a homeless man and not an action-movie star, but as the story progresses, his opinion is soon changed. The film also uses obvious symbolism to the “son of god” in the Christian religion. Hana even states in one scene that if he can't have a baby, he'll just have a miracle like the Virgin Mary. There is a bit of irony thrown into the humor which works out extremely well. During the opening scene where Hana is scoring some food from the church banquet, he jokingly asks the server for two servings as he is eating for two. Later on, when they are hauling the baby around public places, the server spots Hana and really does buy the joke that he was pregnant.

The only distracting part I can find in this movie is that there is a scene where Miyuki meets a Spanish woman and even though they are not able to fully connect through both Japanese and Spanish, they somehow manage to successfully communicate in English. This sort of takes away from the chemistry of the situation and could've been a much more interesting conversation if they made attempts at trying to understand each other through actions, gestures and moods rather than just switching to an intermediary language. Of course, that's just my opinion. The scene isn't bad, but it misses a chance at some great chemistry. The soundtrack is mostly composed of familiar orchestrated tracks with some original music thrown in some parts. Not to mention there is a Japanese version of Holy Night sung in the opening. I have to admit it was pretty funny watching Hana sing a song from Sound of Music in one scene. Even the ending credits have an odd musical number.
Tokyo Godfathers, much like Satoshi Kon's other works, is nothing short of excellent. The animation is a bit cartoony, but it needed to be since the script called for a lot emotion to be displayed by the characters. In fact, there is almost nothing wrong with this film. The acting is great, the animation way above average and the character development moves very progressively. The story is so great that I don't want to spoil it in this review. Tokyo Godfathers is original, dramatic, humorous, suspenseful, cute and above all an entertaining film. I highly recommend this title to anyone who enjoys a good story or just wants a good movie to make them laugh and cry.

Pros: Extremely interesting characters; excellent story with many plot twists; great fusion of drama and humor; Mad House's best animation yet.

Cons: Conversation between Miyuki and Spanish woman could have been better.

Grade: A+

-- Mark McPherson 29th May 04

Tokyo Godfathers Images